Flat Sales up 13%, Launches Increase 19% in 2017 Jan. to March

Residential property
market nudged up from demonetisation woes with housing sales growing 13% for
the fourth quarter of 2016-17.

The surge in the volume
was primarily driven by Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru, which together accounted
for 57% of total sales across top nine cities in the March quarter, said a
PropTiger.com report.

Total house sales increased to 51,700 units in
the quarter from 43,500 units in the previous quarter.

“Residential markets
seem to have recovered from the demonetisation lows with sales and launches
showing healthy levels in Q4 FY17. A large part of the recovery is driven by
the affordable housing segment, which has found favour after getting
infrastructure status,“ said Anurag Jhanwar, business head (consulting and data
insights), PropTiger.com, Housing.com and Makaan.com.

Real estate sector in
India saw a revival after demonetisation with sales jumping 13% against a 22%
fall in the previous quarter across top nine cities of India, the report said.
Mumbai contributed nearly 23% to the total sales, followed by Pune at 18% and
Bengaluru at 16%.

Launches of new
residential projects across these cities jumped 19%, the hig across these
cities jumped 19%, the highest in the past eight quarters. About 51,500 units
were launched in the fourth quarter of 2016-17 compared to 43,250 units during
the preceding quarter. As far as launches are concerned, Mumbai topped
accounting for 26% to total laun ches followed by Hyderabad at 14% and Gurgaon
at 13%.

The share of affordable
housing launches rose 22% riding on the infrastructure status the industry
received.

“We might witness
realignment of supply and demand with the implementation of Real Estate Re
gulatory Act or RERA. While we might see some turbulence over the next couple
of quarters, the long-term outlook remains positive,“ Jhanwar said.

Inventory overhang also
eased to 38 months from 46 months in the preceding quarter. Mumbai, Bengaluru
and Pune together accounted for more than 55% of the unsold inventory.

Noida has highest share
of unsold inventory aged above three years; more than 65% of unsold inventory
in Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Pune is in the affordable segment.

“Prices remained
range-bound in the top nine cities across all the segments, with marginal
annual appreciation in the range of 1% to 3%. Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai
witnessed a marginal appreciation in the range of 3 to 5% per annum,“ the
report said.